Reclaimed By My Alpha (Natalia and Andrei) novel Chapter 505

Chapter 505

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Natalia’s POV

Ashmoor was a familiar place, but returning wasn’t a comforting feeling. Right now, it felt too much like it had five years ago when I’d first arrived, pregnant and terrified,

Now, I was doing it all over again. Except this time, I wasn’t running from Andrei because I was afraid of him. I was running because he was afraid of himself.

Grace set us up in our usual spaces; the guest room I always stayed in, and the twins‘ old nursery right across the hall. Grace and Damon hadn’t changed the furnishings because we knew we would visit often and there were more than enough rooms in the house.

“I hope you don’t mind the makeshift bassinet,” she said, stepping back from the dresser to admire her handiwork. The bottom drawer was open and stuffed full of pillows and blankets. “We can get a real one today.”

My stomach plummeted at the reminder of the days spent in the King’s palace, when all I’d had was a dresser drawer to lay my newborn girl in, but I pushed the memories away and focused on unpacking. Hope needed to be fed and changed. The twins needed to eat and rest. And I needed to keep moving or I’d fall apart completely.

Grace made breakfast for the twins while I got Hope settled. When I made my way downstairs, I found Jane sitting at the kitchen table, swinging her legs and humming to herself as she munched. Max wasn’t touching his food.

“Don’t you want your pancake, Max?” I asked gently.

“I’m not hungry.”

“You need to eat something, honey. Just a bite.”

“No. I want to go home.”

“We will. Soon.” I squeezed Grace’s shoulder and took a seat. “But right now, we’re going to stay here for a little while. Auntie Grace has lots of fun things planned for us.”

“Like what?” Jane asked.

Grace smiled. “Like baking those cookies I know you like. And going to the park. And maybe we can visit the library and pick out some new books.”

Jane perked up at that. “Can we get books about princesses?”

“As many as you want,” I laughed.

Max still wasn’t eating. He just stared at his plate with his chin jutting out.

After breakfast, I tried to distract them with games. They were both too wired to take a nap even though we had been up all night, and so was I. So we played cards and built towers with blocks and read stories. Jane laughed and played along, but Max remained distant.

That night, I put them to bed in their old nursery. They were almost too big for their beds now, but they still had all their favorite old stuffed animals and blankets. Jane fell asleep almost immediately exhausted from lack of sleep. But Max was still awake when I came to tuck him in.

“Mama?” he said quietly.

“Yeah?”

“Why did we really leave?”

I sat on the edge of his bed. I’d been dreading this question. Hoping he wouldn’t ask. But of course he would. Max

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was smart. He always saw through me.

For a moment, I considered lying again. Telling him everything was fine. But Max deserved better than that.

“Daddy’s sick,” I said. “Not like a cold or the flu. It’s… something in his mind. He’s having bad dreams and they’re making him confused. He needs time to get better, and he thought it would be safer if we stayed away for a while,”

“Safer from what?”

“From him accidentally hurting us while he’s confused.”

Max’s expression hardened. “So we just left him? When he’s sick?”

“It’s more complicated than that.”

“He wouldn’t leave us if we were sick!” He sat up, his voice rising. “We should be there helping him, not running away!”

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